During my last stay in a gaijin house there was a chinese guy who could speak fluently japanese and chinese and was born and raised in australia, his native language was english.
When he applied for a teaching job they told him that he didn't look "international" enough.

The best way for getting a job in Japan (not only japan) is by knowing lots of people.
Almost every gaijin i met who had a job other than teaching got it through a friend of a friend from a sister of his girlfriend, or something similar.

Binsento has brought up an excelent point, that in Japan (more than other places I think) connections are often more important than what you can do.

就職活動 (Job hunting) is generally a one to two year process that starts when you're in college. You make connections, meet people, find jobs, interview multiple times at the same company, all in order to make an impression and get *in* with the group. Once you're in, you're in, but you have to have some sort of connection to get there first.

They look at it from an economical and cultural perspective and conclude that whites are better than other races because they are very developed in these areas. Also, they think whites look physically better. As for racism, most countries in the world are racist against blacks to some extent. Japan isn't any different. I don't entirely understand their relationship to the rest of Asia so I'm not going to comment on it.

I'm not entirely sure if this is accurate, but I think a good example that reinforces Schattenjedi's claim is that a lot of the characters in Japanese anime are white. I don't know if this is because they think we are better looking (Although that seems to be the most likely reason), or if they think it makes anime more modern and westernized. Maybe both.

I recently read about a blog in Newsweek that gave the link to this website where a black guy commented on his experiences teaching in Japan. Be warned, it has a lot of sexual references, so if you're easily offended, don't bother reading it:

Site deleted.

Seriously guys, STOP posting that site!

Last edited by Akuma on Sat 09.17.2005 9:00 am, edited 1 time in total.

ProbyWaN1337 wrote:I was planning to go to Japan after I graduate high school, and I was wondering what job I could hold. So an average job (restaurant, department store) wouldn't really be available to me if I'm not fluent in Nihongo? I want to go to Japan very badly, but now I feel hopeless because I don't know how I'd get a steady income. Any advice???

I've read that you can't get a Japanese work visa without a college degree, so I don't think there are any employment opportunities available for a high school graduate (legal ones, anyway). Maybe you'd be better off in college, and trying a student exchange programme as previously mentioned.

As a student it is possible to get an international student visa. This allows you to work up to 4 hours a day unlike the usual 8 hrs (part of the lose of rights thing). This is meant to pay for education only, so accomodation money and food money won't be coming from your job unless your parents are paying for college or something. So it wouldn't be Steady income, but it's income.

You must have some special skill or experience that allows you to do a specialized job. You can't get a visa to work in a restaurant unless you are some famous chef who can make food that no one else can.

To attend a Japanese uiniversity outside of an exchange program through a school in your home country, you have to take a test for exchange students, which is very hard. It tests Japanese ability as well as all the other fundamentals (history, math, science). http://www.jasso.go.jp/eju/index_e.html

They look at it from an economical and cultural perspective and conclude that whites are better than other races because they are very developed in these areas. Also, they think whites look physically better. As for racism, most countries in the world are racist against blacks to some extent. Japan isn't any different. I don't entirely understand their relationship to the rest of Asia so I'm not going to comment on it.

I'm not entirely sure if this is accurate, but I think a good example that reinforces Schattenjedi's claim is that a lot of the characters in Japanese anime are white. I don't know if this is because they think we are better looking (Although that seems to be the most likely reason), or if they think it makes anime more modern and westernized. Maybe both.

I recently read about a blog in Newsweek that gave the link to this website where a black guy commented on his experiences teaching in Japan. Be warned, it has a lot of sexual references, so if you're easily offended, don't bother reading it:

Site deleted.

Seriously guys, STOP posting that site!

That was really uncalled for, he did give a warning and stated the contents of the site so i dont see what's the big fuss about posting. Geezuss !!

As far as getting jobs in japan:As a white foreigner, you will be pigeonholed as an English teacher. Perhaps if you have a business or computer related degree and some good (near-fluent) Japanese skills, you can get a corporate job. Otherwise, you'll be relegated to teaching English. Fortunately, English teaching jobs are a dime a dozen, and some of them still pay fairly well.

If you are a non-white from somewhere like the U.S. or the U.K., you will find it more challenging, but you will probably find the same sorts of jobs open to you. Realize that to the average Japanese, "English-speaking foreigner" equals "WHITE English-speaking foreigner." If you're not white, then you're not TRUELY an American, Brit, etc. It's not impossible, but expect to meet with scepticism and/or outright prejudice. I don't know how many times I've heard the story of an Asian/Hispanic/African-American introducing themselves to a Japanese as an American and having the Japanese respond with a raised eyebrow saying "But...you don't LOOK American..."

If you are a non-white from a non-English speaking country, then you should expect to be forced into very low-level jobs: construction, meat packing, selling jewelry on the street, etc. The Japanese perception of non-whites from places other than the U.S., U.K., Australia, etc., is unfortunately very low. Expect to be discriminated against. Most of Japan's current social woes and rise in crime rates are being pinned on this group by the government and the media.

Last but not least, there are often translation/interpretation jobs open to anyone with good Japanese skills. Of course, Japanese-English is the most common, but you can find work for just about any other combination of Japanese-Foreign language. Unfortunately, this is a tough field to break into. It's one of those jobs where every opening requires experience, and so you're left asking "so where do I GET this experience if no one will ever hire me?!?" I've known some translators who got into the business translating some odd things: Buddhist websites, coffee table books on pottery, etc. Personally, I managed to get some experience translating "adult" manga. >ahem<

So you're saying that because I'm not white it's going to be harder for me to get a job?! Geez, this seems like the 1950's all over again! But I wonder what the chances of me getting a job since I'm mixed?

Sumi wrote:But I wonder what the chances of me getting a job since I'm mixed?

You'd have a harder time than a white person or a (full) black person; not with getting a job, but with carrying it out! All the Japanese people you see will think you were raised in Japan and speak perfect Japanese. They'll start talking to you really quickly and it'll take them a while to comprehend that you aren't fluent. That is, until you get to be fluent

For people who don't look at all Asian, most Japanese assume they don't speak Japanese or their Japanese is terrible so they talk really slowly.

Sumi wrote:But I wonder what the chances of me getting a job since I'm mixed?

You'd have a harder time than a white person or a (full) black person; not with getting a job, but with carrying it out! All the Japanese people you see will think you were raised in Japan and speak perfect Japanese. They'll start talking to you really quickly and it'll take them a while to comprehend that you aren't fluent. That is, until you get to be fluent

For people who don't look at all Asian, most Japanese assume they don't speak Japanese or their Japanese is terrible so they talk really slowly.

So since I look asian (cause I am) they would assume that i would know how to speak japanese? I know some Southeast Asians study japanese, so maybe that's why?

Harisenbon wrote:Binsento has brought up an excelent point, that in Japan (more than other places I think) connections are often more important than what you can do.

就職活動 (Job hunting) is generally a one to two year process that starts when you're in college. You make connections, meet people, find jobs, interview multiple times at the same company, all in order to make an impression and get *in* with the group. Once you're in, you're in, but you have to have some sort of connection to get there first.

isn't that one of the reasons that students will spend years trying to get into the correct schools (be it highschool or college) in order to meet the right people to establish the right connections for future jobs?

TrilinguisT wrote:So since I look asian (cause I am) they would assume that i would know how to speak japanese?

Sumi is half Japanese, and Japanese people would be able to recognize that. Since you're from Cambodia (right?), it would be a little bit different because the Japanese would be able to tell that you aren't Japanese. I don't think people would talk as quickly to you as to Sumi, but they wouldn't assume you know English. A lot of Asians live in Japan for work or studying, and a large majority of them speak decent Japanese. A majority of the Westerners, on the other hand, don't speak much Japanese at all so Japanese people don't try to talk to them in Japanese as much.

two_heads_talking wrote:isn't that one of the reasons that students will spend years trying to get into the correct schools (be it highschool or college) in order to meet the right people to establish the right connections for future jobs?

Exactly. In fact, many people say that college is only for making connections. That's why, for many, going out and drinking with friends or fellow club members is more important than going to class.